The Machalilla National Park park rangers have just completed their fourth year of humpback whale rescues, which are often found entangled in fishing gear. So far, park rangers have saved 13 whales; including four rescues this year alone.

JOHANNESBURG — Parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) have voted overwhelmingly to protect rhinos by rejecting a proposal to legalize the rhino horn trade. The proposal submitted by Swaziland to legalize rhino horn trade was defeated 100-26 with 17 abstentions.

Over the past decade, nearly 6,000 rhinos have been killed for their horns — primarily in South Africa, where 5,098 were poached between 2005 and 2015 to supply a lucrative black market.

Proponents of legal trade argue that they can tightly control the trade by limiting it solely to horn legally taken from living rhinos and legitimate stockpiles, and claim they will use the revenue to support anti-poaching.

BANGKOK — Positive news for elephants continues this week with the release of a report detailing Bangkok’s shrinking ivory market. An 18-month survey of Thailand’s capital by TRAFFIC found a 96% drop in the number of ivory products available at retail markets from a high of 7,421 ivory items in 2014 to just 283 products earlier this year. The steep decline follows rigorous actions taken locally to comply with the National Ivory Action Plan.

Thailand’s Elephant Ivory Act regulates the country's legal market in ivory from domesticated elephants. The government has also prohibited the trade and sale of ivory from African elephants by enacting an amendment to the country's existing Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act, making African elephants a protected species in Thailand.

Over the past decade, nearly 6,000 rhinos have been killed for their horns — primarily in South Africa, where 5,098 were poached between 2005 and 2015 to supply a lucrative black market. Yet this week at the world’s largest-ever wildlife trade conference, some officials continue to advocate for legalizing the rhino horn trade.

A ban on international trade of the horn has been in place since 1997, but that hasn’t stopped the killing and poaching. However, there’s some good news: Wholesale and retail prices for rhino horn fell to half of their 2013 prices, due to growing awareness of the devastating impacts to the endangered and threatened species.